Modular jack assemblies are used in telecommunications equipment for mating with telephone-type modular jack plugs to transmit electrical signals therethrough. A typical modular jack includes a non-conductive housing having a receptacle for receiving the modular jack plug. A plurality of conductive terminals are mounted in the housing, with contact arms cantilevered into the receptacle. A modular jack often is mounted within a panel of a wide range of electronic apparatus including computer equipment and the like. The modular jack plug is inserted into the receptacle from the front of the panel, and the modular jack may be terminated to a printed circuit board behind the panel.
Board-mounted modular jacks of the prior art typically are terminated to printed circuit boards by soldering tail portions of the jack terminals to appropriate circuit traces on the printed circuit board. This typically is done prior to installation of the modular jack in an electronic apparatus such as prior to mounting the jack in an opening in a panel. There is a need for some type of system for terminating such board mounted modular jacks without using soldering techniques and the inherent problems thereof, such as creating excessive heat, etc. The present invention is directed to satisfying that need by providing a modular jack which is easily snap-locked in a panel and which can receive a printed circuit board for termination thereto without soldering the jack terminals to the circuit traces on the board.